-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Rising apprehension that food inflation may finally begin to bite in electoral terms has seen the Manmohan Singh government press the panic button as retail prices of cereals, vegetables and pulses soar in comparison to last year. Persistent high inflation, particularly in food, is gnawing the government ahead of assembly polls in four major states later this year and the 2014 Lok Sabha election, a concern...

-The Indian Express What caused the steep fall in poverty reported by the Planning Commission? The evidence is mixed Earlier this week, the Planning Commission released estimates of the incidence of poverty in 2011-12. As in virtually the entire literature on the measurement of poverty in India, these estimates are based on data on per capita consumption expenditure collected by the National Sample Survey Organisation. The estimates show that there has been...

-The Indian Express Greater economic growth, not more subsidy, has resulted in poverty falling like never before Given how poverty levels have fallen sharply, from 37.2 per cent of the population in 2004-05 to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12, the question is whether this is due to rising economic growth or a more sprawling subsidy regime. Since the government plans to bring in the Food Security Bill, it is easy to guess...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: Assam will implement the UPA government's National Food Security scheme from November 19, chief minister Tarun Gogoi said today. The much-hyped National Food Security Ordinance, which is expected to be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament, will ensure access to quality food by all people in the country, especially those in the BPL category. Gogoi told reporters here that a group of ministers (GoM) has already been constituted to...

-The Business Standard 7 things you should know in the Bhagwati vs Sen slugfest Jagdish Bhagwati and Amartya Sen are the two Indian economists who are most respected for their work. Both have worked on a broad spectrum of issues, though Sen is best known for his work on public choice and development and Bhagwati for his work on trade. They are both liberal, neoclassical economists, who support deregulation and disapprove of...